


Alya the Investigator

by Madze



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alya is my absolute fav, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Happens five years after season 1, Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Mama Agreste is a very important character whom I love very much, Other, inspired by comic "rena rouge and the case of the prisoner"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-02-24 12:51:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13214151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madze/pseuds/Madze
Summary: It's been five years since Hawk Moth first came around, and he still hasn't been defeated. Master Fu finally realizes that they need to find out who Hawk Moth is if they want to defeat him, and sends his most trusted investigator, Alya Cesaire, after her.





	1. The Investigation Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick change: 3/14/18: changed mama agreste's first name to her canon one

Alya Cesaire sat at her desk, typing away at her computer. Though she had been typing random ideas since dawn, there were no ideas coming to her. And she had to submit an article in less than a day. 

“Al, I think you have writer’s block,” her kwami, Trixx, said. 

“Writer’s block? No way! I’m just tired,” Alya refuted, pushing her long curly hair away from her face. 

“You’ve only been up for three hours. You’re not tired,” Trixx said.

“Well it’s not my fault that I have no ideas!” Alya moaned.

“It kind of is,” Trixx refuted, and then they flew over to relax on Alya’s bed.

After Trixx spoke, Alya heard a small ding come from her computer. As she looked to see where the notification came from, she opened the IM-Miraculous app on her desktop. She had made it a few weeks after she, Carapace, and Queen Bee had joined the superhero team, so they could talk while out of costume. She looked through her contacts to see that it was none other than the Guardian of the Miraculouses, Master Fu. He was surprisingly well-versed in modern technology though he was nearing his two-hundredth birthday. The message read, “Rena, come over to my shop ASAP. Important job for you.” Alya responded with a quick OK and woke up Trixx.

“Trixx!” Alya said sharply.

“Alya, what is it now?” Trixx groaned.

“We have to go over to Fu’s right now,” Alya responded.

“Really? Your bed is surprisingly comfortable today. I really don’t wanna get up,” Trixx said.

“You kinda have to, since I’m leaving. Unless you wanna stay here and pretend that you’re a toy when Ella and Etta invariably invade my room,” Alya said.

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.” Trixx flew up and found a nesting location in Alya’s messy handbag. Alya put on a puffy jacket and grabbed her handbag as she left her room. She walked through the hallways and saw her mother sitting in the living room.

“Hey mom, I’m going over to Marinette’s place,” Alya lied.

“Alright Alya, but you really don’t need to tell me where you’re going. You’re nineteen, and you know Paris well enough that I don’t worry anymore,” her mother, Marlena, responded.

“Ok. I’ll be back in a bit!” Alya said, as she left their apartment and waited for the elevator. Living on the top floor meant waiting a minute or two for it, but she didn’t really mind. It gave her an extra few minutes to check her phone or make sure that she had everything she needed. But this time, the elevator came quickly and she got down to the first floor without anybody else getting on. She walked through the streets of Paris until she reached the little massage shop on a side street that she had grown to love. Normally the place wasn’t packed, but today she saw a woman in her forties walk out as she came in. The woman had bright blonde hair and wore a large pair of sunglasses. Alya saw this kind of woman many times across Paris. She was probably some kind of celebrity who saw Fu’s massage shop as one of the “hidden treasures of Paris.” The woman passed and Alya opened the door. The shop looked like it normally did. Master Fu was sitting on a chair, looking expectantly at Alya.

“Hello, Alya. I’m very glad that you were able to come so quickly,” Master Fu said.

“Any time. What did you need me for?” Alya asked. She sat down on a cushion, and Trixx came out from her bag, and sat on top of Alya’s unkempt hair. 

“Well, I’ve realized that I will need your investigative skills for something very important,” Fu said, sipping on a glass of water.

“That sounds like something I can handle,” Alya responded.

“I’ve realized that this fight against Hawk Moth has gone on for too long. And though you and Ladybug have casually tried to find who Hawk Moth is, we have not really focused on figuring out his identity. And I have realized that it is essential that we find the real identity of Hawk Moth if we are to defeat him,” Fu said. Alya wanted to respond with a simple No shit, Sherlock, but she decided to take a more polite route.

“I agree. And I’m willing to investigate!” Alya said. She was, in fact, very curious about who Hawk Moth was. 

“Perfect. I knew that you would help. The only thing is that you will have to temporarily halt your duties as Rena Rouge. I need you to truly focus on investigation,” Master Fu said. 

“You what? I am not giving my duties up. This’ll take months!” Alya said indignantly. 

“Well, would you want me to give this to Queen Bee?” Master Fu asked. Though Rena Rouge and Queen Bee were on better terms now, there was always a rivalry between them. They always got themselves into tricky situations in order to impress Ladybug, and it always ended with somebody blowing something up. 

“Heck no! I’ll do it!” Alya cried. Queen Bee was a good fighter, but she wasn’t the smartest. Alya knew that Queen Bee would only get herself and the rest of the team into more trouble.

“Good. I’d prefer if you could stay in your civilian form so you aren’t too noticeable,” Fu said.

“That’s probably a good idea. I’d better get going- oh wait! I kinda have a big article pitch due in less than a day. Could I theoretically make a series of me trying to find Hawk Moth’s identity?” Alya asked.

“Sure. Still, you must be very careful,” Fu warned.

“Of course! Careful is my middle name,” Alya joked.

“I thought it was Celeste.”

“It’s a joke. Regardless, I gotta go over to the office then! Bye!”

“Good luck, Alya.”

As Alya walked outside, Trixx flew into her bag. Alya grabbed her phone and ordered an Uber to go to her news office.

“Alya, can you please teach Fu how to use Skype? I can’t stand Pyrrh,” Trixx complained.

“I’ve tried already, Trixx. But Skype is the one thing he refuses to use,” Alya said.

“Ugh, Pyrrh mansplains everything. He’s even worse than Wayzz!” Trixx said.

“I still don’t really get why he had to take the Dragon Miraculous after he gave the turtle one to Carapace. He’s never going to use it!” Alya said.

“Pyrrh says that he wants to have one just in case. Does he not trust you and the rest of the team?” Trixx asked.

“With him nobody is sure. But I’m just trying to imagine him as Carapace when he was younger. Current Carapace looks ridiculous as he is, but at least he’s somewhat cute. But Fu would just look like a weird TMNT grandpa!” Alya teased.

“I mean, you’re not wrong!” Trixx said. They started to laugh quietly. Then, the Uber that Alya ordered came and she and Trixx hopped into the back seat. 

“Are you Alya?” The driver asked. Unlike most of the drivers Alya had, this driver had a feminine voice. The driver turned back and Alya realized that was the same woman she had seen entering the shop.

“Yup! I think I saw you earlier,” Alya responded.

“I think so too. You were at Fu’s massage shop, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That was only about ten minutes ago, though. Did you actually get a massage?” The driver asked.

“No. I’m a journalist, and we were meeting about putting an advertisement for his shop in the paper,” Alya lied.

“That’s kind of surprising. I’ve been going to him for years and he’s never advertised outside of word-of-mouth,” The driver commented.

“Yeah, I was surprised too. One of my, uh, coworkers, talks all about him. She says that his massages are top notch,” Alya said.

“Which paper do you work for?” The driver asked.

“Paris Daily,” Alya responded.

“That’s very nice! I worked on the fashion section for a bit,” the driver said.

“How did you get into working for Uber then?” Alya asked. She was very surprised that a chic-looking woman who had worked for Daily was now working as an Uber driver.

“Oh, I worked at Daily when I was about twenty. I wasn’t a very good writer. I just got the job because I was dating one of the other columnists. Shortly after I quit at the Daily, I settled down. About a year ago my husband and I separated, and I left town. I just came back a few days ago, and until I find a more permanent job, I’m working as an Uber driver,” the driver said. 

“Wow, your life seems really interesting!” Alya said.

“My life as a young adult was pretty fun. Say, does Park Aurelien still work at the Daily?” The driver asked.

“He does! He’s my boss,” Alya responded.

“What a small world! Ask him if he remembers me,” the driver requested.

“I will, but what’s your name?” Alya asked.

“Emelie Valentin. He’ll probably remember me,” Emelie said.

“I’ll ask him! Anyway, I do have to give him my article pitch,” Alya said.

“Well good luck! I remember Park being very specific. You seem like you have some good ideas, though,” Emelie said. 

“Thanks! I hope he likes it,” Alya said worriedly. Writing an exposé on Hawk Moth would be incredibly risky, and even suggesting the idea would be risky. Normally Alya just stuck to celebrity gossip as a junior columnist.

“I think he will. God, I should probably find him on Facebook or something. Anyway, this is where I’m going to drop you off,” Emelie said.

“Alright, thank you!” Alya said. She and Trixx exited the taxi and entered the large building that Paris Daily occupied. At this point, the security guards recognized her and let her up immediately. She quickly hopped on the elevator, pressing her floor and making small talk to some of her coworkers. She got off on her floor and found her small office. It was unorganized, since she almost never worked at the office, but it had a nice view of the Eiffel Tower and it had everything she needed. There was a desktop computer that Adrien had given her when she started. It was awfully nice having a best friend who was both generous and rich. There were a bunch of files that were everywhere but the filing cabinet inside her desk. She had a spinning desk chair that her friends loved to use when they visited, and she had photos of her with her friends and family up on the wall. She had a shelf full of different drinks, and otherwise there wasn’t much walking room around her office. She put down her bag and took off her jacket. She walked down the hallway to find her boss’ office. As she got towards the end of the hallway, she nervously pushed her hair behind her glasses. If Mr. Aurelien were to disapprove of her investigation, she had no other ideas. But she had to seem confident in order for him to say yes. She found his office, and the door was wide open with him sitting at his large desk.

“Hello Alya. I’m surprised you actually came into the office today,” Mr. Aurelien said.

“Well, I have a pitch. It’s a bit out there but I’m sure that it’ll get us a lot of traffic,” Alya responded.

“Alright. Do explain,” he said. Park Aurelien was a pretty intimidating man. He looked like he could’ve been an American basketball star, with his dark skin, short-cut afro, and six and a half feet of height.

“Well, I wanted to go undercover to find out who Hawk Moth really is. I would spend a few hours each day doing field work and write a new report every few days,” Alya said.

“Hmm. That is a good idea, and it will get us a lot of traffic. Surprisingly, nobody has ever investigated his identity. But, you’re just a junior reporter. I’m not so sure if you would be up to all the work necessary,” he said, examining the facts.

“I’m definitely up to it! I mean, I did create the Ladyblog so I already know a lot about the Miraculous and I have lots of experience doing field work,” Alya said convincingly.

“You do bring up a good point. I’ll discuss this with my colleagues and make sure it’s not against company policy to make a junior reporter do this much work. I’ll email you with my final verdict by the end of tonight. I recommend that you have a backup plan available,” Mr. Aurelien said. 

“Okay. Also, do you know somebody named Emelie Valentin?” Alya asked.

“In fact I do. She worked here about twenty years ago, but I haven’t seen her since she left the company. Do you know her?” Mr. Aurelien asked.

“She was my Uber driver for on the way here,” Alya said.

“Uber driver? Well, she’s changed a lot since then. Has she told you what she’s been up to?” Mr. Aurelien asked.

“She said that she ended up marrying somebody, but they separated a while ago. She told me she left town but came back a few days ago. Told me she was being an Uber driver until she could find a more permanent job,” Alya recalled.

“Well, that’s nice. She and I were good friends back in the day. But still, it’s hard to believe that she’s an Uber driver now. I always thought she would end up going much further in life. Oh well. I’d better go confer with my colleagues. Go home, and I’ll contact you later,” Mr. Aurelien said.

“See you later!” Alya said. She walked back to her office, took her things, and got into the elevator, which was empty at this point. Trixx flew out of her handbag and floated by Alya’s face.

“Imagine if he doesn’t let you investigate. Or even worse, give the job to somebody else,” Trixx said.

“Wow, talk about being an encouraging kwami,” Alya responded sarcastically.

“I’m just saying, it’s possible!” Trixx exclaimed.

“Still. Anyway, I’m starving. Let’s go over to Marinette’s,” Alya said.

“Me too. Her baguettes are to die for,” Trixx said. The elevator got to the lobby, and Alya left the building to walk towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery. It was about a five minute walk and there was always good food and a way to cut the hour long line. Alya saw the end of the line two blocks away from the bakery, and continued to walk towards it. She saw that people were crowding in front of the bakery, so she opted to open the back door. She took off her coat and bag, where Trixx was now asleep. She walked through to the bakery, where she found her best friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Her dark blue hair was pulled up into a bun and she was moving a tray of cinnamon buns to the front of the store, trying to manage a crowd that was bigger than usual. She turned around to see Alya standing there.

“Hey! Alya! You’re here. The bakery’s super busy today, as you can see with the extra help. Would you mind helping out?” Marinette said, her stress very obvious. Alya looked around to see that Adrien was helping at the counter.

“Of course. But I think that Mr. World Famous Supermodel only makes the line longer,” Alya joked.

“Maybe, but he is a big help. And I just really like having him around,” Marinette said.

“Well of course you should! You guys are dating after all!” Alya said. Adrien and Marinette recently leaked that they were dating to the press. Alya was proud to be the first one to write about their relationship, and she was glad that the public shipped them as much as she did. 

“Anyway, how was work today?” Marinette asked, as she handed Alya a pan of baked goods and pushed her towards the other counter.

“Pretty good. I made my pitch to my boss. He’s semi-interested,” Alya said.

“Ooh! What’s your pitch about?” Marinette asked as she put some macarons into a decorative box.

“I’m gonna figure out who Hawk Moth really is,” Alya said confidently.

“You WHAT?” Marinette screamed.

“Yeah! Well, I haven’t fully gotten approved yet, but that’s literally my only idea,” Alya said, putting her hand on her screaming friend’s shoulder. Still, the customers were not deterred because the cashier was just too hot. Adrien was able to make conversation and make the customers buy more than they normally would. Marinette wanted to hire him full-time, but Gabriel would have none of it. It took him years to let Adrien take the subway, much less let him have a bakery job. 

“But seriously, finding who Hawk Moth, the ultimate dickhead of Paris, is. That’s super unsafe,” Marinette said.

“But I’m the best person to do this. I ran the Ladyblog, and I’m a good reporter. We’re going to have to figure out who he is if the superheroes want to defeat him,” Alya refuted.

“Well, you are right. We should get back to bakery-ing if we want to get through this line. Al, go over to the counter and actually take some orders,” Marinette ordered.

“Alright,” Alya said. 

“And Adrien, please stop flirting with the customers. It was only funny for the first fifteen minutes,” Marinette reprimanded.

“Aw, but it’s so fun!” Adrien pleaded.

“Aw, but you have a girlfriend! If you’re gonna go around dating other people, at least be subtle!” Marinette retorted.

“It’s in my nature. My father was a flirt, my mom was a flirt, my grandma was a flirt-” Adrien said jokingly.

“On what planet is your father a flirt?” Alya interrupted.

“I heard from some family friends that he was a flirt back in the day,” Adrien said as he gave back change to a customer buying croissants. 

“Still, stop flirting with literally everybody who passes through,” Marinette said.

“Fine,” Adrien said. He went a few minutes being a normal cashier, but he ended up making finger guns at an especially funny customer and couldn’t go back.

The next three hours passed by quickly. They were able to get to the end of the line and ended up making more money than the bakery usually made in a week, and it wasn’t even two o’clock. The three friends were sitting on little stools in the bakery and chatting.

“Mari, can we close the bakery for a bit? Being a cashier is super fun but I’m hungry, thirsty, and tired all at the same time,” Adrien said.

“Definitely. I’d love to fall asleep right now but we need to make some more food,” Marinette said.

“But do we really? We’ve sold everything in the bakery and your eye bags are heavier than Santa’s gift bag,” Alya said.

“You have a good point. Anyway, my parents will be home in an hour or two so we can leave the baking up to them,” Marinette said.

“Best idea I’ve heard all day. Anyway, where have they been?” Adrien asked.

“Oh, they were visiting some family friends last night and they ended up staying the night there,” Marinette said.

“Cool. Anyway, I’m gonna go home and sleep for the next fifteen hours,” Alya said, taking out her phone from her back pocket.

“Go do that. See you tomorrow!” Marinette said.

“Bye!” Alya said, checking her email as she walked over to the exit.

“See you soon!” Adrien said.

“Oh my god!” Alya exclaimed.

“What is it?” Marinette and Adrien said in unison.

“My idea got approved!” Alya exclaimed happily.

“That’s good for you, but be careful! Hawk Moth is super dangerous!” Adrien said.

“Careful is my middle name,” Alya teased.

“I thought it was Celeste,” Adrien responded confusedly.

“It’s a joke, Adrien,” Alya said as she put on her coat and left. As she walked onto the street, she realized that she might actually need 15 hours of sleep since she was about to find out who Hawk Moth, ultimate dickhead and baddie, was.


	2. Horrible Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya starts figuring out who Hawk Moth is. A bit of backstory concerning the Miraculous which will probably end up diverging from canon. Takes place a couple hours after chapter one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay, i'm actually following through with something! excitement!  
> i promised myself that i'd have this up yesterday but that didn't happen bc school sucks. and i love to procrastinate.  
> for future chapters i'll probably post biweekly on fridays or saturdays.

Though Alya didn’t get the fifteen hours of sleep she said she would get, she fell asleep as soon as she came home, and didn’t get up until she heard two sets of feet stomp around her bedroom. 

“Did I really just fall asleep with my glasses on for the second time this week?” Alya asked to nobody in particular. 

“Yes, yes, you did,” Trixx responded. They were resting on one of Alya’s shelves, pretending to be an action figure.

“That was a hypothetical question,” Alya said, as she heard her door open. 

“Alya! Where have you been all day?” Asked one of Alya’s little sisters. Embarrassingly, Alya didn’t know who was who. Most identical twins end up doing something to set them apart, like cutting their hair or wearing different sets of clothing, but the twins still wore the exact same hairstyle and clothing though they were now eleven. And that was solely because they wanted to confuse others. Well, it definitely worked. 

“I’ve been at Marinette’s. I had to help her run the bakery!” Alya said. Normally she had to lie to cover up her adventures as Rena Rouge, but at least today she could be semi-honest. 

“Oh, ok. Cool!” Said the other twin. 

“Can we play on your computer?” The first twin asked. 

“Sorry, but I gotta use it now. But after you two have finished your homework and eaten dinner, I’ll let you play for an hour,” Alya said. Somehow those two were more tech-obsessed than she was, which was saying a lot since she had blogs since the time she was seven. She knew that their Internet usage had to be restricted even if they were just playing The Sims or Roblox.

“Ugh, but we have so much homework tonight!” One of them said. 

“Then get it done quickly so you can get around to playing tonight,” Alya said sternly. She felt guilty for acting more like a mom than a cool older sister, but all three of them had things to do. 

“Fine,” the twins said in unison, and left the room. Alya went over to her desk and first pulled up IM-Miraculous. She sent a quick message to the group.  
Rena Rouge: hey guys! have to take a small break from miraculous stuff. so sorry! :(  
She knew that the rest of them would be going on patrol very soon, and wouldn’t be checking their apps. After all, she set it up to be a computer-only app so they couldn’t track each other’s locations. But to her surprise, she got many immediate responses. 

Ladybug: Wait are you okay rena? What’s going on?

Chat Noir: why???

Carapace: Oh no why? Has some robot taken over ur body or something? This is so out of character for you!

Queen Bee: ok :)

Alya sent a quick response. 

Rena Rouge: no, I’m ok. civilian self is gonna be out of town and idk when I’ll be back. but I checked w fu and he’s all cool w it :))

The other miraculous holders expressed their relief and sorrow, or in Queen Bee’s case, joy, that she was okay but gone for an amount of time. Carapace (and all of Paris) found Rena as the hottest thing since fire itself, and he would miss their banter. Ladybug and Chat Noir would miss the valuable partner they gained in Rena. Meanwhile, Queen Bee had been anticipating the day Rena left. Alya also left a small announcement on the Ladyblog that Rena would be absent for a short period of time, and in other news she would be investigating the identity of Hawk Moth. But at this point, she didn’t need to worry about running the blog since she gave the job to a group of Ladyblog superfans as soon as she became Rena, just posting occasionally after that.  
Well, Alya had work to do now. She saw Trixx sleeping on the shelf, and tapped her to wake up. 

“Ugh, I was just having a nice dream. Why did you wake me up?” Trixx asked groggily. 

“Well, we have to start the investigation now. Is there anything you know about Hawk Moth?” Alya asked. She took out an empty notebook, and a Sharpie, labeling the cover “Project Horrible Mistake - Alya Césaire”. 

“I do, but are you seriously calling this Horrible Mistake?” Trixx asked. “There’s gotta be a better name out there.”

“It’s supposed to be alliterative. Hawk Moth, HM, and Horrible Mistake, HM,” Alya clarified. 

“Oh. Anyway, let me tell you what I do know,” Trixx said, finally being helpful. 

“Cool,” Alya said, taking out a pen and starting to write stuff on the first page. 

“So Hawk Moth is a miraculous holder. He has the Moth one, which has been lost since about the 1800s. The Moth miraculous is able to make anybody your devoted followers, using butterflies. But this Hawk Moth uses them to create super villains, which is obviously really bad. Oh yeah, the miraculous are set up so that if somebody goes evil, the others have a way to stop their destruction. But that doesn’t really matter for this,” Trixx said. 

“Ok, but is there a reason why he always wants our jewels?” Alya asked. 

“If somebody wields the Ladybug and Cat miraculous at the same time, they have the power to bend reality,” Trixx said. 

“That sounds pretty sick. Why haven’t LB and Chat not used it to defeat Hawk Moth yet?” Alya asked. 

“Something bad happens, usually. Boy, I remember back in Ancient Greece when Odysseus tried to use both of them. That was a freaking disaster,” Trixx mused. 

“They were around in Ancient Greece? How long have the miraculous been around?” Alya asked, suddenly very interested. 

“Oh, they’ve been around since the dawn of time,” Trixx said. 

“Dang. That’s a lot to take in. Wait, has anybody cool had the Fox miraculous?” Alya asked. 

“Yeah. Odysseus had it before he got the Ladybug and Cat one, Robin Hood had it, and a bunch of tricksters from the Middle Ages. And a few Silk Road traders had me. The last person I had was Alexander Hamilton before the necklace got transported back to China. There were some more people, but I’m too tired to remember them,” Trixx said, recalling her past adventures. 

“Wow, that’s a lot of information. I’m writing all of that down. But is there anything relevant to his identity?” Alya asked, scribbling down sloppy notes. 

“I don’t really have much else. Anyway, I’m bored. I’m gonna go find something to do now,” Trixx said disinterestedly. They flew off towards the hallway, probably to rest with her new baby brother who happened to be really adorable. 

Alya already had a plan of what she had to do. She pulled up Hawk Moth’s Wikipedia page to see if there was anything else she should know. There were a few sloppy shots of him back from the Volpina incident and not much information on the page. The guy looked like he was an adult, and he was tall and slim with angular features. Alya printed a few photos of Hawk Moth and a list of everybody who was akumatized, hoping to find some patterns. 

Let’s see. Most of the people from her class had been akumatized, excluding Adrien and Marinette. And there was no way in hell that Marinette could be Hawk Moth. There was a small possibility with Adrien. She knew that he was always busy. He usually said that he had to model, or go to fencing practice, but that could just be a front. And the akuma attacks did start on the day he came to school. It was possible. And he had the perfect villain backstory, with an absent father, a mother who was presumed dead, and a sheltered lifestyle. But he was too nice. Again, that could just be to cover up his dastardly ways. She took out a photo of Adrien that she kept from back when she thought he was Chat Noir. She compared their body and face structure. Both of them were extremely thin and had great jaw structure. That was a start. They seemed to have the different eye colors, but she knew that the miraculous could change one’s eye color. Chat Noir definitely didn’t have those ridiculously green eyes as a civilian. But she couldn’t just have one suspect. She eyed through the list of akumatizations. The majority happened in the neighborhood she lived in, so that probably meant that Hawk Moth lives somewhat close to her. God, that was scary. She realized that she needed to find Trixx and ask her another question. She got up from her bedroom floor and found Trixx snuggled up against her baby brother in his little nursery. 

“Trixx,” she whispered. “Wake up!” 

“What is it now?” Trixx groaned. 

“I need to ask you a quick question,” Alya whispered. 

“Ask away,” Trixx said. 

“Hawk Moth can’t akumatize himself, right?” Alya asked. 

“He can’t. Or at least nobody has tried. I honestly don’t remember,” Trixx said, falling back asleep. 

“Thanks,” Alya said, going back over to her bedroom, closing the door. She sat back down at her computer desk. She knew that there was some kind of census that her neighborhood created about a year ago. Not many people came or moved out, so the list didn’t change much from year to year. She reached the website, and found a list of names. She tried to sort the list by gender, but as she clicked on the button, she found that that was a premium feature that would cost ten euros to unlock. But she was a broke college student on winter break. She had a job, but most of the money was used for tuition or food. Oh well. She would just have to print the entire list and cross everybody who was unimportant off. Luckily, her neighborhood was mostly touristy so not that many people actually lived there. She took the list out of her printer and crossed off everybody she knew absolutely could not be Hawk Moth. That was about three quarters of the list. After hours of cross-referencing the two lists, there left about ten people in the neighborhood who had never been akumatized that fit the general description of Hawk Moth. There was Adrien, Alix’s father, somebody who worked at the museum, one of Gabriel Agreste’s interns, a barista at a local coffee place, and a few boys from her high school. She soon realized that she didn’t need to keep those boys on because they were simply too dumb to be a mastermind like Hawk Moth. But, her conscience refuted, he did akumatize a baby. That was stupid. So she opted to keep them on the list for now. She wrote all their names on a page of the notebook. 

It was now dusk, and she saw the group going out on evening patrol. Though she wished that she could join them, she knew that this was far more important. But at the same time, she didn’t know what she, or anybody in the group would do after Hawk Moth was gone. Would somebody else take the miraculous, spreading more terror to the world? Would they just never see each other again? That would be sad. But maybe they would all learn each other’s identities, and they could hang out after they stopped being heroes. Anything was possible. Still, she should probably get some food now. Her stomach agreed with her. She walked out into her kitchen to see her parents watching TV together.

“Hey, Al. How was your day?” Her father, Otis, asked. He was in his pajamas, and sharing a bowl of truffle popcorn with his wife.

“Fine. I’m just getting some food since I’ve been working for the past few hours,” Alya said.

“Yeah, I could kind of tell you were working. Your door was shut and you were blasting some old Jagged Stone hits. Do you have a new assignment?” Otis asked.

“Yup. My newest assignment is to figure out who Hawk Moth is,” Alya said. Her parents jaws dropped simultaneously.

“Hawk Moth? You can’t be serious,” Her mother, Marlena, gasped.

“I am serious. I got assigned by a sketchy person, but tons of people will want to read this kind of thing,” Alya said.

“Well, you do have a point. Just please be careful. He has akumatized everybody in this family at this point,” Marlena said worriedly.

“Careful is my middle name,” Alya joked for the third time that day. Her parents looked at her disapprovingly.

“We mean it this time. You’ve gotten yourself into trouble for your Ladyblog, but this is at a whole other level. We barely know anything about him,” Otis said sternly.

“Okay dad. Have you guys had dinner yet?” Alya asked.

“We had some food about an hour ago, and your sisters ended up going over to a friend’s house to study and they’re eating there. We don’t have anything left over though,” Marlena said.

“That’s fine,” Alya said. She went over to the fridge and took out some leftover Chinese food that she had from her date with Nino last night, heating it up and bringing it back to her room. She ate it while watching a movie that she had watched ten times before, falling asleep with her glasses on for the third time this week.


End file.
